Add or Update Costs for Estimates or Change Orders
Overview
When an estimate or change order is created for a project, the next step is to add costs for materials, labor and trade partners.
After you create your estimate or change order, you will use the Proposal Builder to share it with your client. Refer to the articles Share Estimates and Share Change Orders.
In this article, we’ll cover how to add and update costs in an estimate or change order.
- Add a Cost Group
- Add a Cost Section (optional)
- Reordering Cost Sections and Cost Items
- Add a Cost Item
Add Costs
Estimates and change orders are organized by the Cost Groups, Cost Sections (optional), and Cost Items you added in Company Settings. The buttons to add them are at the bottom of the table.
Add a Cost Group
A Cost Group contains the project's overarching step or phase, such as Demolition, Framing, and Drywall.
Click + Cost Group and select a Cost Group from the dropdown list. After a Cost Group is added, you can then add Cost Sections (optional) and Cost Items. Each Cost Group can be added only once, so the list only shows groups you have not used yet. Cost Groups always appear in the order set in Company Settings, and they cannot be dragged to a new spot.
Add a Cost Section (optional)
While Cost Sections are optional, they allow you to group a specific scope of the overall project, helping you organize large projects.
There are two ways to add a Cost Section:
- Click the + Cost Section button at the bottom of the table and select a Cost Section from the dropdown list. The Cost Section is added to the last Cost Group you added.
- Or, click the Add Section icon (the square with a plus) on a specific Cost Group row and select a Cost Section from the dropdown list.
Reordering Cost Sections and Cost Items
When creating an estimate or change order, you can click and drag a Cost Section above or below another Cost Section within a Cost Group, using the handle at the left of the row.
Notes
- The Cost Items grouped within a Cost Section will move as a unit, provided you move the Cost Section above or below another and do not drop it in the middle of another Cost Section.
- If you drag a Cost Section along with Cost Items to a different Cost Group, a Warning popup opens: Warning - You are moving section to another group! All selected cost items for section rows will be removed! If you select Yes, the Cost Item codes will be deleted and you will need to reassign them from the dropdown list available on the destination Cost Group.
- You can also move just the Cost Section anywhere within the Cost Group on its own.
Add a Cost Item
Cost Items are assigned to a Cost Group and are unique to that Cost Group.
There are two ways to add a Cost Item:
- Click the + Cost Item button at the bottom of the table. The Cost Item will be added to the last Cost Group or Cost Section you added.
- Or, click the + icon on a specific Cost Group or Cost Section row.
- You can click and drag the Cost Item within the Cost Group to reorder however you’d like.
- If you drag a Cost Item to a different Cost Group, a Warning pop-up opens: Warning - You are moving row to another group! Row cost item will be removed! If you select Yes, the Cost Item code will be deleted and you will need to reassign it from the dropdown list available on the destination Cost Group.
- Next, Add Cost Item Details.
Add Cost Item Details
Enter or select items for the following fields in the Cost Item data line. Note: Some fields are populated based on Company Settings.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Description | Enter a brief description of the scope of work for the Cost Item. Required. The line will not save without a description, and the box turns red. |
| Cost Item |
Click or use TAB to select the Cost Item code and press ENTER.
|
| COG |
Click or use TAB to select the COG type: Materials, Labor, or Trade Partners and press ENTER
|
| Quantity |
Click or use TAB to enter the Quantity of the Cost Item and press ENTER.
|
| Unit Type |
Click or use TAB to select the Unit Type for the COG selected and press ENTER:
|
| Unit Cost |
Click or use TAB to enter the Unit Cost for the Cost Item and press ENTER. The Unit Cost is multiplied by Quantity to calculate Total cost. Labor
Materials
Trade Partners
On change orders you can enter a negative Unit Cost for a credit. Estimates do not allow a negative Unit Cost. Refer to the article Can I enter negative amounts on a change order? |
| Cost | Auto-populated based on Quantity and Unit Cost. |
| Mark-Up % |
Auto-populated based on Project Settings > Finance > Markup Charges, %; however, you can adjust any Cost Item markup you want Cost Plus & Fixed Cost contract types Buildwise makes it easy to set the percent markup for each COG category. To do this, refer to the article Set Up Markup Costs.
|
| Mark-Up $ | Auto-populated based on the Cost x Markup %. On projects with two taxes (GST and PST), materials lines take the markup on the cost plus PST. |
| Total | Auto-populated based on Cost + Markup $. |
| Allowance | When checked, the line is listed in the Allowances section after the Scope of Work table in the estimate or change order your client sees, grouped by Cost Group. The line still counts in all totals. The amount shown depends on the contract type and the Allowances choice on the Share tab. Refer to the articles Share Estimates and Share Change Orders. |
| Client |
Checked by default and indicates that the data row is shown in the client proposal.
|
The Allowance and Client checkboxes are at the end of each Cost Item row.
Each line also has a Notes column. A line's note, its yellow highlight and any file you attach to it are for your team only. They never show on your client's copy or PDF.
Update or Delete Costs
Update Costs
You can update costs while the estimate or change order is unlocked. A new estimate or change order starts unlocked. Releasing it (sharing by email releases it), approving it or declining it locks it. Refer to the article Lock an Estimate or Change Order.
Delete Costs
You can delete estimate or change order costs by deleting Cost Groups, Cost Sections, or Cost Items. Deleting takes two steps, so you don't delete something by accident: a confirmation window, then a message with an UNDO button.
Find the Cost Group, Cost Section, or Cost Item you want to delete and click the garbage can icon at the end of the row.
- If you delete a Cost Group or Cost Section row, a Delete? confirmation window opens: Are you sure you want to delete [Cost Group/Cost Section]? For a Cost Group, it adds a line such as All group rows and sections will be removed as well! For a Cost Section, it adds All section rows will be removed as well! Click Yes to confirm, or No to keep it.
- If you delete a Cost Item row, a Delete? confirmation window opens: Are you sure you want to delete the row? Click Yes to confirm, or No to keep it.
On estimates, you can also tick several lines and click delete in the totals row to delete them together. The confirmation asks: Are you sure you want to delete [n] rows? Change orders delete one line at a time.
UNDO Deletions
When you confirm deleting a Cost Group, Cost Section, or Cost Item row, a red message with an UNDO button briefly appears at the bottom left of the screen. Click UNDO to bring the row back.
Warning: If you do not click UNDO in time or leave the page, your information will be lost and cannot be retrieved.
View Summaries
At the bottom of every estimate and change order is a summary of the totals for each COG, the total hours, the mark-up, the tax and the overall total.
If you have any questions or need support:
💬 Click the beacon on this page to chat with us
📩 Click the beacon on this page to email us